Abstract: A branching fraction measurement of the B0 -> Ds+</mml:msubsup>pi- decay is presented using proton-proton collision data collected with the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0<mml:mspace width=“0.166667em”></mml:mspace>fb-1. The branching fraction is found to be B(B0 -> Ds+</mml:msubsup>pi-)=(19.4 +/- 1.8 +/- 1.3 +/- 1.2)x10-6, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third is due to the uncertainty on the B0 -> D-pi+, Ds+</mml:msubsup>-> K+K-pi+ and D--> K+pi-pi- branching fractions. This is the most precise single measurement of this quantity to date. As this decay proceeds through a single amplitude involving a b -> u charged-current transition, the result provides information on non-factorisable strong interaction effects and the magnitude of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element <mml:msub>Vub. Additionally, the collision energy dependence of the hadronisation-fraction ratio <mml:msub>fs/<mml:msub>fd is measured through B<overbar></mml:mover>s0 -> Ds+pi- and B0 -> D-pi <mml:mo>+ decays.

Abstract: A measurement of CP-violating observables is performed using the decays B-+/- -> DK +/- and B-+/- -> D pi(+/-), where the D meson is reconstructed in one of the self-conjugate three-body final states K-S(0)pi(+)pi(-) and (KSK+K-)-K-0 (commonly denoted K(S)(0)h(+)h(-)). The decays are analysed in bins of the D-decay phase space, leading to a measurement that is independent of the modelling of the D-decay amplitude. The observables are inter- preted in terms of the CKM angle gamma. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb(-1) collected in proton-proton collisions at centre-of mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV with the LHCb experiment, gamma is measured to be (68.7(-5.1)(+5.2))degrees. The hadronic parameters r(B)(DK), r(B)(D pi), delta(DK)(B), and delta(D pi)(B), which are the ratios and strong-phase differences of the suppressed and favoured B-+/- decays, are also reported.

Abstract: The Ge-72(n, gamma) cross section was measured for neutron energies up to 300 keV at the neutron time-of-flight facility n_TOF (CERN), Geneva, for the first time covering energies relevant to heavy-element synthesis in stars. The measurement was performed at the high-resolution beamline EAR-1, using an isotopically enriched (GeO2)-Ge-72 sample. The prompt capture gamma rays were detected with four liquid scintillation detectors, optimized for low neutron sensitivity. We determined resonance capture kernels up to a neutron energy of 43 keV, and averaged cross sections from 43 to 300 keV. Maxwellian-averaged cross section values were calculated from kT = 5 to 100 keV, with uncertainties between 3.2% and 7.1%. The new results significantly reduce uncertainties of abundances produced in the slow neutron capture process in massive stars.